Truss construction



Nov. 17, l

B. J. JURoN 1,832,780 TRUSS CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 16, 1928 X* \V MF N W R M w l\!\ t"\ \l\! \I\ N3 mf v rbh l N K5' :Qq A N 11 l m w\ w? w k i Q mw Uu: H I s qu Q \`H \Q l H Inventar JJuog 1 M ,@mmw

afore stated locking joints,

shape in cross section Patented Nov. 17, 1931 texano PATENT oFFIcE BERNARD-J. JUR, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS TBUSS CONSTRUCTION .Application le'd August 16, 1928. Serial No. 300,029.

The present invention relates to improvement in structural units and more particularly to a novel truss structure, the main purpose of which being to provide a structural detail of this character, capable ofvbeing easily and cheaply manufactured, and which in use will be far more durable and possess considerably more strength thanelements of this nature now employed.

The prime object of the invention resides in the peculiar slitting of a Vsingle pie/ce of ductile metal and preferably of an I- beam in such a manner that when the longitudinaledge portions of the beam are separated, interconnecting diagonalbraces will be provided and by interposing struts between the chords or edge portions of the beam, in a position secured to the adjacent ends of the said braces, a very stable structure will result.

Another important object resides in a truss member constructed in the foregoing manner with the end in View of conserving material and obviously reducing the manufacturing costs substa-ntially. l f

Still another object of importance resides in the construction of a truss in the manner wherein the braces are provided in a-ngularly disposed and opposed groups while struts connectthe upper and lower ends of the longitudinal edge portion, to sustain the truss in its expanded state.

Still another important object resides in the fact that in the completed truss structure no part thereof is directly contingentor de.- pendent in any manner upon welds, rivets, solder or bolts for its load carrying capacitv, except in so far as it is necessary to hold the vertical brace the use of welds, rivets, solder, bolts or interand other connections orl any or either of them.

After reading the following specification and claim, other important objects .and ading the Banged edge l th l't members intheir place by e Ves and e s 1 vantagesof the invention will become apparent. D

In the drawings:

Figure l` is a side elevation of the I-beam or similar shaped member or ductile metal, slitted in the novel manner preparatory to the expansion thereof.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the beam expanded to provide a truss structure.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the constructed truss with the brace members interposed between the longitudinal edges thereof for sustaining the truss in its expanded position, and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of the improved truss ina somewhat modified form.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts, an elongated I beam 1 having the usual flanged longitudinal edges 2 2 is slitted in a. peculiar manner throughout the major portion of its length in a manner whereby the anged edge portions of the beam are spaced apart to constitute chords in a truss structure,'such as is shownb70 clearly in Figure 2.

In slitting the beam preparatory 'to spreadportions apart, spaced transverse slots 4 are formed in the lbeam web, and an elongated slit 3 is formed longitudi- /75 nally at an lintermediate point and substantially parallel to the flanged 'edge portions 2 2, said slit 2 communicating with and extending longitudinally at opposite sides of the central slot 4. 80 Elongated slits 5 5 are forned in the web ofthe beam 1 in longitudinal spaced relation v and in longitudinally alined respect to them- 3, the slits 5 extending rom corresponding ends of the slots 4 to- 85 ward the ends of the beam.- The slits 5 are formed in the beam outwardly of each end of the slit3./V A" second group of slits' 6 6 are vformed 'in longitudinal spaced relation throughout the major length of the beam 1 '90 whereby the and adjacent the opposite flanged edge of the beam. f

The slits 6 communicate with all the transverse slots 4 excepting the central slots 4, and are arranged in parallelism with the slits 5,

excepting the end slits 5, and extend longitudinally inward from the opposite ends of the slots 4, with reference to the ends from which the slits 5 extend. The innermost slits 6 are arranged in parallelism with the before mentioned slit 3.

Obviously, by spreading one flanged edge portion of the beam to a position spaced from its complementary flanged edge portion, a structure such as is shown in Figure 2 oi the drawings will be obtained. By this method of slitting and otherwise forming the beam l and separating the opposite edge portionsto form chords in the manner shown, a novel truss structure is obtained which includes an equal number of diagonal braces 8-8 arranged in diverged relation toward opposite ends of the structure.

In this expanded position, the respective ends of the beam l serve as bearing extensions 9-9 while the slots 4 serve to provide lower and upper abutments or shoulders 9a: and 10 respectively.

As is clearly shown in Figure 3, a plurality of struts l1 are .arranged between the opposite longitudinal edge portions or chords of the expanded structure shown in Figure 2, so that their end portions will rest alongside of and against the respective shoulders 9a: and 10. The struts may be thus strongly secured to the structure by soldering, welding, interlocking joints or some similar method, or by any means found saitable. In'this connection it will be observed that each brace member ll is arranged at right angles to the longitudinal edge portions and .that each brace member 11 rests at one end of one abutment 9m and at the opposite end of the abutment l0 below. From this it follows that the abutments 9x and 10 aiiord. strong means for the connection of the brace members 1l.

The bearing extensions 9-9 at the respecsplit inwardly and spaced 1n the manner Vshown in Figure 4.

er flanged edge or chord indicated by dotted lines may be then removed while the lower edge portion of the upper ianged portion may be provided with a bearing plate l2, structure shown. in Figure 4 may be employed in certain types of building arrangement.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the production of my novel truss is attended by the separation of the flanges of a sheared beam in such a manner as to create two chords of a truss together with integral braces; also, that in my truss the-bracing in the expanded element Jforms a triangle at the of the outline consis ts of a `in the specific manner into groups,

other and with the nearest the element only, and the remainder series of parallelograms. lt will also .be apparent that in my improvement a completed structure is not attained until after the insertion of the struts 11, and thatmy improvement does not entail the employment of Asplices and is of such character that the original length of the tinished products is'the same as thev unfinished which is materially adyantageous because it avoids waste o material.

` lt is to be understood center of that certain changes of carrying out the toregoinginvention may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new is zy A truss element of zductile metal made from a shape such as an I beam, the web portion of said I beam having been slitted with two rows of interrupted longitudinal cuts and properly spaced transverse cuts connect ing adjacent ends of the interrupted longitudinal cut-s of the rows and in suc'h a manner that when the two iiange portions of said I beam have been separated and spaced in parallelism with one another, the intermediate web portion will have been stretched and become a series ot brace members andthe resultant outlined appearance will show the two central braces at the lower flange member and forming a triangle with the upper flange member and all other brace members one group of either side of a central triangle, the brace members in ea'h group being spaced in parallelism with each brace member of the central triangle, the transverse cut defining upper and lower abutment shoulders, and vertically disposed compression struts abutting against the opposite sides of adjacent shoulders.

ln testimony whereof l aix my signature.

BERNARD J. JURON. 

